Written by Peter Forde B.Sc.
- Introduction
- Abstract
- Why check Hubbard's OT-III statement?
- "Section III OT" summarised
- General notes on modern geology
- The "Section III OT" information as checked
- Summary and interpretation of findings
54 Underwood Court, Hyde, CHESHIRE UK SK14 3HX
Copyright (C) 1994, Peter Forde. This document may be freely reproduced on a not-for-profits basis. For other uses you are requested to obtain prior permission from the author.
Note that "Section III OT", "OT3", "Scientology", "L.Ron Hubbard", "Dianetics", "E-meter" and other scientology words are trademark and belong to COSRECI.
1 Introduction
1.1 Abstract
The "Section III OT" materials as written by L. Ron Hubbard in late 1966 remain in use to-date by Scientology as a heavily promoted and very expensive course (over 3k British pounds). The materials mostly revolve around a statement of events "recalled" by Hubbard that supposedly occurred on earth 75 million years ago. Section III OT then applies "Dianetics", which is claimed to be a science of mental health, using the events as essential information. My paper checks Hubbard's statement against the known geological record for the time, finding that nearly all of the listed locations didn't exist then and that other available evidence contradicts the general story.With the events demonstrated to be fictional incidents the implications for the action and efficacy of Section III OT and of Dianetics in general are then considered. The conclusion is drawn that "Section III OT" is not an improvement activity but a disguised training action with debilitating effects on the mental independence and cognitive function of the participant. Dianetics is also functioning as a hidden training action, structured to accustom participants to fake results to order, or else be heavily punished for "lying".
1.2 Why check Hubbard's OT-III statement?
Scientology claims to be both a science and a religion at once, and the description used depends whether trying to impress people or hide behind some divine right of religions to do and say whatever they please with nobody having the right to criticize them. Since Scientology and its substudy Dianetics both claim to be sciences, I can legitimately scrutinise them as a scientist..I see good reasons why this scrutiny should be made:
- An objective check of Hubbard's memories of past lives. One of Hubbard's publications, "Mission Into Time", describes an experiment to prove his ability to recall information from past lives. The experiment was carried out under his close direction and control, concerned his own recollections and not another person, was published only by his Scientology organisation, and as is normal for Scientology, debarred independent scrutiny for veracity by any agency. By checking Hubbard's claimed "past-life" memories for "Section III OT" (OT3 for short) against the geological record,this represents a much fairer test of any "past-life" memories he might have had.
- A challenge to superstition.. "Section III OT" is secret, and those who would look ahead to see what it contains are frightened off with menaces of catching pneumonia and dying, and of having to pay far more for their already very expensive training and counselling: 200 - 400 British pounds per HOUR. The net effect is that Scientologists are afraid to look for themselves. Those few who do look ahead of being prepared, don't believe it, and other Scientologists then say sagely how this proves that the traumas were boobytrapped to make them look unbelievable! This paper by checking the details directly against scientific evidence drawn from a wide range of sources, objectively judges whether true-but boobytrapped or whether the story is fiction.
- An adventure into paleogeography... Most people will find my evenhandedness in dealing with this fairy tale bizarre, but apart from trying to reassure Scientologists that there is intelligent life outside the sect, I have a strong personal interest in Geology.
Compiling this paper represents an exploration into the amount of detail currently available for reconstructing ancient landforms.
1.3 "Section III OT" summarised
"Section III OT" or OT3 is a high up level within Scientology that can only be done after many other courses, by which time the client is well prepared, well behaved and ready to believe just about anything Hubbard says. People are not suckers to have been conditioned in this way, but have been ushered through many successive plausible small steps and changes, each one acceptable by itself, but progressing towards a shut-down of critical thoughts, alienation from outside opinion and a turning-towards and eventual unquestioning acceptance of Hubbard's imposed belief system.OT stands for "Operating Thetan" where "thetan" is Scientology jargon for "soul", and "Operating" is supposed to mean "At cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time". The 3 means that this is the third in the series of courses.
OT3 mainly concerns a supposed "Incident II" happening 75 Million years ago, when Xenu, an officer in charge of the 76 local planets of the "Galactic Confederation", solved overpopulation by mass exterminations, mostly by shootings. The souls of those killed were collected together using super cold, transported to volcanoes on earth (he gives a list of these and they are checked out in this paper), H- bombed at the volcanoes, collected up again using electronic ribbons and transported to Hawaii or Las Palmas. They were thereupon subjected to 36 days of hypnotic "implants" using films and simple apparatus, which in their already shocked state was supposedly very effective and kept them clustered together and trapped on earth.
We are each supposed to contain large numbers of these traumatised and grouped souls stuck around our bodies like some sort of spiritual "fleas" (Hubbard's term). The OT3 processing consists of beaming a narrowly focussed attention onto clusters of souls to communicate with and separate them, then get individual souls to recall the volcano they were blown up at etc. which by Dianetics theory releases them from the trauma. If the souls resist recalling the "Incident II" killings, bombings and hypnosis, then "Incident 1" is supposed to be offered for recall instead...
"Incident 1" is time-stamped at 4 quadrillion years ago, and here I quote in full: " LOUD SNAP WAVES OF LIGHT CHARIOT COMES OUT, TURNS RIGHT AND LEFT CHERUB COMES OUT BLOWS HORN, COMES CLOSE SHATTERING SERIES OF SNAPS CHERUB FADES BACK (RETREATS) BLACKNESS DUMPED ON THETAN" (Thetan = soul = spiritual "flea")
If even "Incident 1" won't work, then the Scientologist is doing something wrong and his Dianetics procedures are checked-over. If even then the Scientologist fails to get results, then he is adjudged to have made false attest of completion of previous courses and is required to do the entire series of over 20 courses and counselling from beginning Scientologist onwards all over again.
The end result of OT3 is declared to be "freedom from overwhelm", also "exterior with full perception", also the ability to dismiss illness or mental ill-health in others at will.
1.4 General notes on modern geology
Geologists express time in Mega-years (M.y.) and don't usually refer to time numerically, but classify into a framework of global events, using stages of increasing detail. Thus the "Incident II" given unequivocally by Hubbard at 75 M.y. ago, sits within the Mesozoic Era (251 to 65 M.y. ago), Late Cretaceous Period (97 M.y. to 65 M.y.ago), Maestrichtian Epoch (circa 70 M.y. ago). Incident 1 sits long before the beginning of time at the Big Bang and thus has no geological classification.
In late 1966 when Hubbard wrote "Section III OT" (OT3 for short), the scientific community was working to Static Crust theory. This held that the earth was slowly cooling, and as it did so it contracted and wrinkled up like a dried prune, thus evolving mountains and seas.
Mountains and locations by this theory were essentially old, static and unmoving, and thus it would seem valid to project existing mountains and volcanoes back as existing even 75 M.y. ago.
Hubbard was not to know that Plate Tectonics theory, being proved valid just 2 years later and explaining and predicting hitherto unexplainable phenomena, would prompt an explosion of renewed confidence, interest and research in geology, and its this knowledge which is drawn upon here.
Plate Tectonics holds that the earth's crust comprises a set of plates floating on a mobile Mantle. Its at the margins of these plates that we get earthquake activity and frequently volcanism or mountains. Oceanic crust emanates at (usually undersea) spreading ridges and disappears into the Mantle again at deep ocean trenches, and the continents move about in the process. The cause of plate movements and volcanism is a complex thermal - chemical gravitational engine, but some conceptual grasp can be obtained by picturing convection cells within the earth's mantle.
There are several strands of evidence that work together to date rocks with good confidence... Radiometric dating uses carbon isotopes for a few tens of thousands of years, then Potassium/Argon (K-Ar) up to a few hundred million years, other elements for yet longer time spans. Radiocarbon dating has been accurately calibrated via known artefacts and such as tree rings. K-Ar measures relative proportions of several isotopes and is self -checking since relative proportions must be consistent. There is also palaeomagnetism which records the shifting patterns of the earth's magnetic field and is very useful of itself for dating rocks and tracking the movements of continents, especially when linked to known rates of sea-floor spreading. Then there are fossil and rock strata matching. The 'lifespan' of many species is typically about 3 million years, after which the descendents become noticeably different, a phenomenon which assists use of fossils for dating rocks.
2 The "Section III OT" information as checked...
2.1 Volcano list - Asia and Pacific
This is the volcano list contained within the OT3 statement. I have done a little rearranging and grouping of list items for clarity of presentation, original sequence restored in the summary.
2.1.1 North Japan, South Japan
North Japan, meaning Hokkaido. South Japan, meaning the Japanese mainland of Honshu, and the smaller islands of Shikoku and Kyushu.Around the time of interest, the Kula ridge subducted under the mainland, resulting in an unusually widespread zone of volcanism. The zone eventually extended to 3,000 km in width, and ranged from the Ryoke metamorphic belt in Japan to Lake Baikal, and along the east coast of Asia from the Bering Strait to South China. [1]
S. Maruyama, T. Seno [2] show how at 85 M.y. the Japanese islands were no more than a narrow continental east-facing fore-arc ridge which extended from Korea north into China. It wasn't until about 30-12 M.y. ago that intra-arc rifting separated and rotated the Japanese islands from mainland Asia to form the Sea of Japan, possibly by action of the submerged Kula Ridge. Most of the Japanese land mass has formed in postMesozoic times, and is the result of island collisions, fore-arc accretion and volcanism.
In summary Hubbard has distinguished North Japan and South Japan as volcano ranges when at the time they were indistinguishable from each other or the South-East Asian mainland, with volcanism ranging much further afield than proto-Japan. Thus these are very inept descriptions for volcanoes in the area 75 M.y. ago.
2.1.2 Krakajawia (Krakatau)
Krakatau, misspelled Krakajawia by Hubbard, is situated between Sumatra and Java in Indonesia, and forms part of the volcanic arc of a subduction zone as the Indian Plate, carrying Australia and India, moves towards the northeast.It is part of the Indonesian island arc system, where zones of volcanism can be shown to have formed and moved gradually southward much more recently than 75 M.y. ago following the standard pattern of migrating and growing island arc systems [3].
Krakatau exploded towards the end of last century, with such violence and amount of debris that it caused bad weather globally for several years afterwards.
This volcano is new, and Hubbard was mistaken to name it as existing 75M.y. ago. Its mention hints at imagination at work. (My proof-reader wanted to replace the last sentence with "Its mention supports the evidence that OT3 was the consequence of drugged hallucination.", but I'll leave my text unaltered!)
2.1.3 Indonesia
The Indonesian Island Arc is a subduction-related island arc system [3].Part of Sumatra is thought to have rifted from New Guinea in Jurassic times. There was a collision between an island arc system and mainland Sumatra 30-50 M.y. ago. The Sunda subduction zone with its concomitant volcanism, running from Sumatra through to Sumbawa, has been active only since this time.
The subduction system in Java arose no earlier than 30 M.y. ago, and if I read correctly the sediments that form it were underwater until a northward migrating island arc collided with and subducted under it about that time, causing uplift.
Eastern Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa and Flores expose only island arc rocks of less than 23.5 M.y. age.
The island of Timor comprises an accretionary wedge accumulating on continental crust and experienced uplift in Quaternary times, less than 2 M.y. ago.
Sunda also experienced uplift from the sea in Quaternary or later times, possibly due to a crustal fragment in front of Australia subducted beneath the fore-arc basin.
I conclude that Celebes and part of Sumatra existed 75 Ma ago, along with other islands that have since accreted to continental mainlands.
(Borneo dealt with as part of Philippines) Java, Sumbawa, Sumba, Bali, Lombok, Flores and Timor arose much more recently, and these form most of the present-day volcanic arc. Thus Hubbard was passably correct to name "Indonesia" as a source of volcanoes although only a minority of the islands still exist from the time.
2.1.4 Philippines
The Philippines Trench is new and the subducting Philippines oceanic plate hasn't travelled far, and shows no volcanism south of Leyte [3].Halmahera is a far-travelled Pacific island, now colliding with the Sangihe island arc as the Molucca plate sinks from between. The suture between these arcs is visible in Mindanao. Oldest dates for Southern Phillipines formations give Cretaceous.
The South China Sea is an area of high heat flow, as is the Japan Sea, and it is fair to speculate that this is a rift basin where Luzon and Borneo rifted away from the mainland in relatively recent times. Alas most of the published papers for the area that will give me more detail are in Chinese...
In the absence of more definite information on palaeogeographical features of the Philippines, I'll allow that they were distinct from the mainland and contained volcanism, and thus that Hubbard's naming them was possibly valid.
2.1.5 Himalayas
The Himalayas are a young mountain range resulting from crustal shortening and thickening due to continuing northward movement of the Indian Plate, after its collision 40-55 M.y. ago with the Eurasian Plate [4].Logically there was strong volcanism at island arcs and continental subduction zones during the Late Cretaceous as the Tethys Ocean closed rapidly, but these volcanoes were not situate at anything resembling the present site of the Himalayas, which is the result of shortening of hundreds of kilometres of continental crust, and includes substantial island material [4]. Mention of the Himalayas is far too inept a description for the area for 75 M.y. ago, and Hubbard was mistaken to use this name to locate either volcanoes or a mountain chain. Before Plate Tectonic theory emerged, and not knowing the detailed geology of the Himalayas, it would have seemed fair to mention them.
2.1.6 Hawaii
Hawaii located in the Central North Pacific, is a key location for Hubbard's OTIII statement as this was where the souls H-bombed at the Pacific Ring of Fire volcanoes were supposedly taken to be hypnotically "implanted".Hawaii is the latest in a long line of seamounts thrown up as the Pacific Plate passed over a mantle plume or hot spot [5]. The Hawaiian Islands were thrown up in succession, with Hawaii (and Loihi seamount) the latest and still erupting. The nearest inactive volcanic island is Maui, 230 km from Loihi, which is dated at 1.63 +- 0.03 M.y., and it is fair to conclude that the Hawaiian volcanic pile has arisen since this time.
If there had been an island at the present site of Hawaii 75 M.y.
ago, it might have been Meiji Guyot, now situate at the northern end of the Emperor chain 164.42E 53N, and aged by K-Ar dating at 74+-3 M.y.. [6]. Study of the deep sea drilling core samples from Meiji's summit indicates that this seamount never reached anywhere near the surface to become an island.
I conclude that there was nothing but ocean at the present site of Hawaii 75 M.y. ago, and Hubbard was mistaken to name this place as a supposed centre for distribution and "implanting" of souls.
2.1.7 Andes
The Andes on the Western edge of South America are at a subduction zone for the Nazca oceanic plate as it moves Eastwards, and the South American plate moves westwards carried with opening of the South Atlantic. It was and remains a major part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, and was probably volcanic at the time of interest 75 M.y.ago. The geology of the Andes demands involved study to get any sort of detailed picture, but broadly speaking was not so much in the form of high mountains then but more as cordillera or archipelagos of islands, much as we see in the southern part of South America now [25]. The volcanoes would also have been located slightly further to the East than they are now, and often erupting underwater. Whether there were any mountains is not certain.
In the Western zones we tend to find Cretaceous sediments laid in deep water, with lavas showing a pillow structure, indicating that they erupted underwater. Since the Cretaceous these have been folded and uplifted to form the present mountains, perhaps after Terranes accreted to the continental land mass, perhaps through underplating by the downgoing slab with concomitant isostatic uplift.
The Eastern zone represents a gravity-thrust zone as continuing underplating and uplift is compensated by slumping. Continuing erosion has exhumed Paleozoic and older rock formations. By naming the 7000 km long Andes, and not being more specific, Hubbard was not entirely wrong. Whether traumatised souls would have recognised any modern-day Andean volcano or geography is quite another matter.
2.1.8 Mount Washington
There are two Mount Washingtons in the United States, one is in New Hampshire at 44.17N 71.19W in the Appalachian mountain range. This range formed during the late Palaeozoic era, the Alleghenian orogeny of middle Permian, circa 270 M.y. ago. Activity, including volcanism in that area had long ceased by the time of interest [7].The other Mount Washington is in Massachusets USA at 42.07N, 73.28W, in the Berkshire Hills. This also is a stable cratonic area free from volcanism since the Palaeozoic ended 251 M.y. ago.
From the information available to me, there was no volcanism at a Mount Washington 75 M.y. ago, and Hubbard was therefore mistaken. A possible explanation for this strange name could be imagination, as Washington was the first president of the United States...
2.1.9 Mount Ranier, Mount Hood, Mount Shasta
Mount Ranier is situate in Washington State, USA,46.8N 122.25W , 14,400 ft high, and forms part of the Middle Cascade Mountains [7].Mount Hood is situate in Oregon, USA 45.24N 121.41W, is 11,250 ft high and also forms part of the Middle Cascade Mountains. Both of these volcanoes are currently active. None of the lava in the anticline that these volcanoes sit on is more than 65 M.y. in age, and the volcano cones themselves are Quaternary, less than 1.6 M.y.
in age at oldest. Underneath the lava anticline is about a 3 miles deep thickness of Cretaceous marine-deposited sediments intruded by Cretaceous granitic plutons. In short at the time of interest this site had none of the present volcanoes nor mountains, but was sea, with a few islands in places. Mount Shasta, California USA, 41.25N 122.12W, peaks above 14,000 feet and is situated in the Southern Cascades. I don't have so much information about its the structure, but it is also classed as a Quaternary volcano, less than 2 M.y.
old.
Hubbard was completely mistaken to name these 3 particular volcanoes as existing 75 M.y. ago.
2.1.10 San Gorgonio
This mountain is also located in California at 34.05N 116.50W, and stands 11,485 feets high, forming part of the Transverse Ranges [7].W.F. Barbat [8] informs us that the area in question mostly comprises precambrian rocks of all types, with some granitic rocks chiefly of mesozoic age. It sits on the San Andreas Fault.
These look to me like basement rocks that have surfaced after a very great deal of uplift and erosion. The general area is of Mesozoic sediments that suffered crustal shortening.
The present San Andreas Fault, on which the mountain lies, is thought to be a consequence of the considerable gravitational load the uplifted sedimentary formations placed on the continental plate.
Plate movement has been slow, thus no volcanism.
I conclude that at 75 M.y. the area was underwater and probably experiencing no volcanism. Thus Hubbard was mistaken for this mountain.
2.2 Volcano list - Atlantic
2.2.1 Tangier
There are several "Tangier" to be found around the Atlantic Ocean:Tangier, Morocco, at the southern edge of the Straits of Gibraltar.
I see no evidence of volcanism or mountains at this site for the time of interest, it doesn't form part of the Atlas mountains which are further South. Tangier, Nova Scotia. This was a stable cratonic area for the time of interest.
Tangier Island at 73.84N, 76W in Chesapeake Bay, USA is also a stable cratonic area with no sign of volcanism later than about 100 M.y. ago, when the North Atlantic started to open.
Thus I can find no "Tangier" that was a volcano or mountain 75 M.y. ago, and conclude that Hubbard was mistaken.
2.2.2 St. Helena
St Helena lies some 800 km east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the South Atlantic, an area of about 120 square km, and reaches some 822 m above sea level. Its an odd place to mention. Interestingly St.Helena is where Napoleon was exiled, and so this name use is a pointer to imagination at work.
Oldest above - surface age on St Helena is 14.6 +- 1.0 M.y., measured at the older eruptive pile which shows signs of eruption underwater and subsequent uplft. Baker, the surveying geologist, concluded that the island is less than 20 M.y. in age even though date of initiation of the volcanic pile is unknown.
I agree with this conclusion, and Hubbard was mistaken to name this island as existing 75 M.y. ago.
2.2.3 Kolomonjero (Kilimanjaro)
Kolomonjero is Hubbard's spelling, and I read this to mean Kilimanjaro, highest mountain in Africa, a recently active volcano standing at over 19,000 feet high, in Tanzania near the Equator.Baker et.al. (1971) [10] give an earliest age of about 1 M.y. for exposed basalts on the Kenya side of the border, confirming suggestions from other studies that the main phase of activity at Kilimanjaro occurred during the Pleistocene (less than 1.64 M.y.
ago). Gaciri (1991) [11] cites Mt Kenya, Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt.
Kulal as Miocene-Holocene volcanics, i.e. 23.5 M.y. at oldest, placing them within the Kenya Rift tectonic setting.
Hubbard was thus mistaken in naming this volcano.
2.2.4 Las Palmas (Canary Islands)
Las Palmas is the capital of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, off the coast of North Africa. As one of the two "implantation" centres it is a key site for Hubbard's OT3 claim.Strange that Hubbard named a town and not an island for this site, but if he meant La Palma island, also in the Canaries, and better situated for his story, then the following information still holds.
The older Canary Islands comprise Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, and contain basement continental rocks unconformably overlain by thick deposits of Late Cretaceous sediments. In other words they were underwater 75 M.y. ago. These older islands are mostly overlain by massive Late Tertiary volcanic deposits. [14].
The younger Canary Islands comprising Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Gomera, La Palma and Hierro, are based on oceanic crust at the Canary Fracture Zone. There is a westward decrease in the ages of the islands. Gran Canaria, the oldest of these islands is mostly basalts that were erupted during Mid Miocene, about 15 M.y. ago, forming shield volcanoes. [13], [14].
So far as Hubbard's OT-lll statement goes Las Palmas is sited on the flanks of a recent shield volcano and the whole area was underwater at the time of interest. Hubbard was thus mistaken to name Las Palmas.
2.2.5 Canada
I believe that no destructive plate margin existed on the Atlantic side of Canada in the Late Cretaceous. On the Pacific side there could well have been subduction-related magmatism that was causing volcanoes.Hubbard has been very broad in description of the area, and so is to some degree correct. There was volcanism in parts of Canada in the Late Cretaceous.
2.3 Other Information given
2.3.1 The search for explosion traces
It happens that earth scientists are interested in and searching for locations and sizes of asteroid impacts in the geological record.Interest is fuelled partly by a conjecture that asteroid impacts can cause continent-splitting and affect the pattern of mantle convection, partly by the effort to establish causes of mass extinctions at various times.
Impact traces and craters are located in several ways: visible signs of cratering: satellite and other remote sensing [15]: shocked quartz grains and impact ejecta [16]: gravimetric surveys [17]: electric resistivity [18].
There has been little cratering evidence found for around 75 M.y.
ago, the closest being the Iowa crater (35 Km across), recently redated at 73.8 M.y. [20], 2 others listed for 74-78 M.y. are Eagle Butte (10 km) and Dumas (2 km).
It is estimated that there should have been approximately 350 impacts over the past 100 m.y. with sufficient kinetic energy to produce craters greater than 10 km in diameter, however only a few dozen are currently known [21]. This gives some indication of the difficulty in locating explosion traces. The picture may soon change if extensive gravimetric mapping gets under way, since craters buried by up to a kilometre of sediments can be detected by that means.
Considering Hubbard's claim of widespread H-bombing at many more volcanoes than the ones he lists, the search for but lack of explosion evidence for the time of interest indicates either that they didn't happen at all, or were concealed - perhaps through being exploded by near-to-erupting volcanoes. Since most of the sites he names for H bombing didn't exist at the time, any claim that volcanism masked the effects is in any case, untenable.
2.3.2 Human and other life 75M.y. ago
In his OT3 statement Hubbard listed earth as one of the 76 or so planets ruled by Xenu that were suffering human overpopulation.Earth's population in the 1990s is about 5<< billions, so that if there were an average population of 178 billions 75 M.y. ago, then population density would have been about 30 times greater than now.
Let us now make a thought experiment: Here was a massive human population on earth, and scientists of today very eager to trace the earliest possible signs for past human existence. Why then do we hear no reports of finding rubbish dumps, roads, houses, or other human remains or traces of any sort whatsoever? Why on the contrary do we find evidence of dinosaurs, whose remains and prints are regularly found in rock strata dated to the end of the Cretaceous, and whose existence was incompatible with such a massive human population? Why do we not see mass extinctions of species happening at 75 M.y. ago due to human foraging, pollution and warfare, when evidence is that species persisted or gradually declined through that time and only suffered mass extinctions at 65 M.y. ago? (and also in the 20th Century, alas).
The oldest trace of human existence or remains found so far are Homo Habilis, Malawi, dated at 2.5 M.y. [22]. It is thought that humans, chimpanzees and gorillas may have evolved from a single ancestor about 9 M.y. ago [23].
Although mass extinctions did happen at 65 M.y. ago, the iridium layer together with soot present in the rock 'K-T' layer corresponding to the time are not pointers to H-bombings. Iridium is a common element found in asteroids, also present in the Earth's mantle. It is not a byproduct of atomic fission or fusion.
3 Summary and interpretation of findings
3.1 Summary of findings
Referring to the veracity of the volcano list for 75 M.y. :-Asia and Pacific
Atlantic
- North Japan
- false (did not exist as separate island(s))
- South Japan
- false (did not exist as separate island(s))
- Krakajawia
- false (did not exist)
- Mount Washington
- false (volcanism too old)
- Mount Ranier
- false (did not exist)
- Mount Hood
- false (did not exist)
- Mt. Shasta
- false (did not exist)
- San Gorgonio
- false (underwater)
- Indonesia
- true? (but only for a little of the area)
- Philippines
- true? (not fully checked)
- Himalayas
- false (did not exist)
- (Hawaii)
- false (did not exist, nor any substitute)
- Andes
- true? (different geography, over-broad desc.)
I have tried to be unbiased, informative and accurate, but don't care if the above table should prove incorrect in places since the evidence overwhelmingly supports a conclusion that the OT3 statement describes a non-existent geographic scenario for 75 M.y. ago.
- Tangier
- false (no volcanism for any locations)
- St. Helena
- false (did not exist)
- Kolomonjero
- false (did not exist)
- (Las Palmas)
- false (did not exist)
- Canada
- true (over-broad description)
There is no evidence to support Hubbard's assertion of widespread H-bombing, notwithstanding an ongoing scientific search for explosion traces.
Palaeontological evidence contradicts Hubbard's claims of human population 75 M.y. ago.
My conclusion is that the Incident II of OT3 was impossible, viewed against objective scientific evidence.
Incident 1, preposterous as an event anyway, is dated ten thousand times older than science dates the universe, (going by "Big Bang" theory). I suggest that the "boobytrap" in disbelieving this incident is of Hubbard's making, where both timing and content of the "incident" deny reason. The scientific "criterion of falsifiability" by which scientists insist that statements be testable such as to conceivably be shown false, cannot be applied to the story, thus it cannot class as a scientific statement. The combination of "Incident I" and "boobytrapped" concepts can be described as a 'double bind'... i.e.
"Heads I win, tails you lose!"
Hubbard has stated in higher courses than OT3 that there are parallel universes, and runs Scientologists on spiritual "fleas" in these parallel universes. There is no objective scientific evidence for parallel universes, and such notions class only within the realm of conjecture, imagination or Science Fiction.
Interpretation of findings
Since the use of psychogalvanometers and other techniques of Dianetics are being applied to the provenly non-existent events of OT3, and good results claimed, Dianetics must be doing something other than is claimed for it. It is noteworthy that Dianetics is derived from Freud's Clark Lectures, where Freud later on said that the technique failed to uncover "key repressions" and so was therapeutically insignificant.I would assert that getting Dianetics results from running impossible incidents is evidence that Scientologists are being pushed towards controlling psychogalvanometer behaviour, get results to order, and to regularly deceive others as well as themselves about the truth. If they dont get results, they are deemed to have lied on earlier courses and punished by being either sent back to beginning Scientologist status, or thrown out of Scientology. Scientologists take the OT3 materials home with them, and over the many months they are doing this course, would quite possibly attempt to locate the volcanoes in books and find out more about them. I have witnessed the pathetic spectacle of Scientologists saying Hubbard was wrong about the volcano list, and then go running Edinburgh and other volcanics that they have found to be valid for the time, or for 65 M.y. ago, in an attempt to be less unreal. By Dianetics theory, to make a trauma vanish the exact time, place, form and event must be located, and Hubbard is here unequivocal about 75 m.y., with a specific but impossible volcano list for locations [26]. To run anything else is still faking it.
I conclude in general that OT3 Dianetics, being impossible to run as factual trauma therapy since there was no such trauma, functions instead as a cognitive behavioural training action coercing Scientologists to manufacture falsehoods to order, or be punished for "lying".
The effect of OT3 is to train the Scientologist to project intention to control others through many-times-repeated practice in communicating to imaginary souls within their bodies. More sinister is how the OT3 story has a ready explanation in terms of implant conditioning at Hawaii or Las Palmas for any one of feeling dizzy, not wanting to continue, blankness, sensations of pressure, rough or careless communicating to others, impacts, finding nothing, effort to stop, effort to withdraw, rush, protest, suppress, or the setting up of automatic mental machinery to run the process. Such reactions are ascribed to spiritual "flea" reactions that the Scientologist has "mistaken" as his own thoughts. The Scientologist's own reaction is not allowed as part of the OT3 activity! In this manner the Scientologist's independent thinking and reactions to the story get regularly confused and re-directed into the nonsense of the OT3 "incidents". The result is a person who in a sense is "free from overwhelm" since he is beaming narrowly focussed intentions to control others, is blinkered and interpreting reason and objections in terms of others trauma, and is not in control of his own reasoning but is controlled by Hubbard. I suggest that this represents debilitation of the mental independence and cognitive function of the participant. This is opposite to what is claimed for OT3.
Credits
[1] S Uyeda, A Miashiro, (1974), Geol Soc Amer Bull, v85,p1159 - 1170, "Plate tectonics and the Japanese Islands: A Synthesis."[2] S Maruyama, T Seno, (1986), Tectonophysics 127, p305-329, "Orogeny and relative plate motions: example of the Japanese islands."
[3] WB Hamilton (1988), Geol Soc Amer Bull, v100, p1503-1527, "Plate tectonics and island arcs."
[4] BD Johnson, C McA Powell, JJ Veevers, (1976), Geol Soc Amer Bull, v87, p1560-1566 "Spreading history of the eastern Indian Ocean and Greater India's northward flight from Antarctica and Australia."
D Schelling, (1992), Tectonics, v11, n5, p925-943, "The tectonostratigraphy and structure of the eastern Nepal Himalaya."
[5] DA Clague, RD Jarrard, (1973a), Geol Soc Amer Bull, v84, p1135-1154, "Tertiary Pacific plate motion deduced from the Hawaiian Emperor Chain".
[6] DSDP 192 Deep Sea Drilling Project report for hole 192 and 192a.
[7] Physiography of the United States (1967)
[8] WF Barbat, (1971), Geol Soc Amer Bull, v82, p1541-1562, "Megatectonics of the Coast Ranges, California."
[9] I Baker, (1967), Nature, v215, p1451-1456, "Geocronology of the St. Helena volcanoes." (1969), Geol Soc Amer Bull, p1454 "Petrology of the volcanic rocks of St. Helena Island."
[10] BH Baker, LAJ Williams, JA Miller, FJ Fitch, (1971), Tectonophysics, v11, p191-215, "Sequence and chronology of the Kenya Rift Volcanics."
[11] SJ Gaciri, (1991), Tectonophysics v209, p139-142, "Lineament map of Kenya: correlations of lineaments to known geological data."
[13] X Le Pichon, PJ Fox, (1971),J Geophy. Res. v76, p6294-6308, "Marginal offsets, fracture zones and the early opening of the North Atlantic."
[14] Rothe, Schminke (1968), Nature, v218, n5147, p1152-1154, "Contrasting origins of the eastern and western islands of the Canarian Archipelago."
[15] JB Garvin, CS Schnetzler, RAF Grieve, (1992), Tectonophysics, v216, p45-52, "Characteristics of large terrestrial impact structures as revealed by remote sensing studies."
[16] Geol Mag v131 (3), (1994), p361-367.
[17] J Kakkuri, (1991), Tectonophysics v216, p41-44. "Traces of impact craters in the geoid"
[18] H Henkel (1992), Tectonophysics v216, p63-89. "Geophysica aspects of meteorite impact craters in eroded shield environment, with special emphasis on electric resistivity."
[20] New Scientist 13 Nov 1993, p17 "Ancient asteroid not guilty of murdering dinosaurs."
[21] RAF Grieve, (1987), Annu. Rev. Earth Planet Sci, 15, p245- 270. RAF Grieve, (1984), J Geophy. Res. v89, B403-408, "The impact cratering rate in recent time."
[22] Nature 1993, p833: New Scientist 30 Oct 1993, p15., "Human jaw hints at Africa Trek"
[23] Journal of Human Evolution, v25, p201 : New Scientist 30 Oct 1993, "Three way split for our ape ancestors."
[24] New Scientist, 30 Oct 1993, p14, "Thumbs up for an older universe."
[25] Hans Burgl, (1967), Tectonophysics, v4, p429-443, "The Orogenesis in the Andean system of Colombia."
[26] HCOB 15 November 1978 "Dating and Locating".
Recommended reading:
Jon Atack, (1990), "A Piece of Blue Sky, Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed", a Lyle Stuart book published by Carol Publishing Group, ISBN 0-8184-0499-X Hardback. A masterfully researched expose of the abuses, contradictions, falsehoods, paranoia and greed of Hubbard and some of his pseudo military Scientologist henchmen.
Available from Jon Atack at Theta Communications Ltd. "Avalon", Cranston Road, East Grinstead Sussex, RH19 3HQ.Price 15 British pounds including postage.
Jon Atack (1992) The Total Freedom Trap, available from J Atack (Theta Communications Ltd.) or Peter Forde, 2 British pounds including postage.
Steven Hassan "Combatting Cult Mind Control", Aquarian ISBN 0-89281-243-5
"Cults: What Parents Should Know" Longone & Ross, Lyle Stuart, ISBN 0-8184-0511-2.
Thomas and Jaqueline Keiser "The Anatomy of Illusion" ISBN 0-398-05295-6
"Captive Hearts, Captive Minds" Lalich & Tobias, Hunter House, ISBN 0-89793-144-0.
Margery Wakefield "The Road to Zenu" is an excellent first-hand account of membership, and includes Bob Penney's thought provoking "Social Control In Scientology". "The Road To Zenu" is available via P.O. Box 290402, Tampa, Florida US 33687.